Weather strip for automobile

Abstract

There is provided a weather strip embedding an insert 3 which comprises a resin made and roughly comb shaped insert body 4 having a plural number of tooth portions 4b. Gaps G formed between the tooth portions 4b of the insert body 4 is fully or partially filled with a filler 5 which is made of thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70). Thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin has an elongation after fracture of 300% or more.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a weather strip for an automobile which embeds a resin made insert therein.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, a conventional weather strip for an automobile, which comprises a main body 30 made of EPDM rubber, embeds a comb shaped insert 40 in order to improve its grabbing force against a body panel and the like. Recently, resin made inserts 40 have been used in stead of metal made inserts from a point of view in productivity, weight saving and the like. Such art is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-9889.

However, there is a problem in the conventional weather strip, which comprises a main body 30 made of EPDM rubber embedding a resin made insert 40 formed in a comb shaped form, that there is formed a concave-convex surface (which is formed by concave portions 60 and convex portions 70) on the surface thereof, thereby severely decreasing its appearance.

Such problem arises because the resin made insert differs from the conventional metal made insert in its structure. That is, the metal made insert has a thickness of only 0.4 mm to 0.5 mm, whereas the resin made insert has a larger thickness ranging from 1 mm to 2 mm in order to secure its rigidity. Therefore, for the reason that the resin made insert is thicker than the conventional metal made insert, at a time EPDM rubber is injected over the resin made insert in a mold, the gaps 50 of the insert cannot be fully filled with the EPDM rubber, thereby forming considerably thinner portions on the surface over the gaps 50 compared to the rest of the surface under which the insert takes place.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a rubber made weather strip embedding a resin made insert which does not form a concave-convex surface on a surface of a main body of a weather strip and therefore is good in appearance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an invention claimed in claim 1 provides a weather strip for an automobile. The weather strip embeds an insert (3) which comprises a resin made and roughly comb shaped insert body (4) having a plural number of tooth portions (4b). Gaps (50) formed between the tooth portions (4b) of the insert body (4) is fully or partially filled with a filler (5) which is made of thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70).

An invention claimed in claim 2 provides a weather strip for an automobile wherein the thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin forming the filler has an elongation after fracture of 300% or more.

It should be noted that each numeral in parenthesis indicates a corresponding element or matter described in the drawings and the after-mentioned preferred embodiments of the invention.

According to the weather strip for an automobile claimed in claim 1, the gaps formed between the tooth portions of the insert body is fully or partially filled with the filler made of thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70), so that a surface of the main body of the weather strip does not form a concave-convex surface, thereby providing a good appearance.

That is, the insert is roughly flat as it is formed with the insert body and the filler filled in the gaps, so that it is unneeded to fill the gaps with EPDM rubber. Therefore, the EPDM rubber forms an uniform layer having a similar thickness over the insert, so that the insert forms a flat surface therearound excluding an appearance of concave portions 60 and convex portions 70.

The thermoplastic elastomer or the thermoplastic resin forming the filler has Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70), so that a bending operation of the insert can be done easily while bending the insert into a roughly U-shaped form.

Further, a bending operation of the weather strip can also be performed easily, which is applied in bending the weather strip along a round corner portion of an automobile. Therefore, the weather strip is good in a so called “Bending radii”.

According to the weather strip for an automobile as claimed in claim 2, in addition to the effects of the invention claimed in claim 1, the thermoplastic elastomer or the thermoplastic resin forming the filler has the elongation after fracture of 300% or more, so that the weather strip is good in flexibility in a bending operation (“Bending radii”).

Therefore, the bending operations of the insert as well as the weather strip can be performed more easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a weather strip according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an expanded plain view showing an insert being embedded in the weather strip shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line I-I in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory drawing showing a forming method of a weather strip according to the invention.

FIG. 5 is an another explanatory drawing showing a forming method of a weather strip according to the invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory drawing showing a manner of an experimental test on “Bending radii” of a weather strip.

FIG. 7 is an expanded plain view showing an insert being embedded in a conventional weather strip.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view along line II-II in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another insert according to the invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing still another insert according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A weather strip for an automobile according to the invention will be described hereinafter referring to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the weather strip 1. FIG. 2 is an expanded plain view showing an insert 3 embedded in the weather strip 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line I-I in FIG. 2. Same numerals are provided in portions which are similar to the portions shown in the conventional art.

A weather strip 1 for an automobile according to the preferred embodiment comprises a rubber made main body 2 and an resin made insert 3 which is embedded in the main body 2. The insert 3 comprises a insert body 4 and a filler 5. The insert body 4 comprises a base portion 4a which elongates in a longitudinal direction and a plural number of tooth portions 4b provided at both sides of the base portion 4a, thus forming a roughly comb shaped form. The filler 5 is filled in a plural number of the gaps 50 formed between the tooth portions 4b. The filler 5 is made of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) [TPO: olefin type thermoplastic elastomer, TPS: styrene type thermoplastic elastomer, or TPVC: vinyl chloride type thermoplastic elastomer] having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70).

The insert 4 is made of polypropylene and it may be formed by adding talc. Each gap 50 has a width of about 0.5 mm to 5 mm.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, this weather strip 1 for an automobile can be formed with an insert extruder 10 which extrudes the insert body 4, a filler extruder 11 which fills the filler 5 in the gaps 50, a cooling water pool 12 in which the weather strip 1 is dipped, and a pulling machine 13 which pulls up the weather strip 1.

According to the weather strip 1 for an automobile in the preferred embodiment, the gaps 50 of the insert body 4 are filled with the filler 5, so that it does not form a concave-convex surface on its surface, and that it is good in appearance.

The thermoplastic elastomer forming the filler 5 is a soft material having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90 (preferably 40 to 70), so that a bending operation can be performed easily while bending the insert 3 into a roughly U-shaped form. Similarly, a bending operation of the weather strip 1 can also be done easily while bending the weather strip 1 along a corner portion of an automobile.

Further, according to this weather strip 1, an elongation after fracture of the thermoplastic elastomer forming the filler 5 is 300% or more, so that it is excellent in flexibility at a time of bending operation.

Therefore, the bending operations of the insert 3 as well as the weather strip 1 can be done more easily.

It should be noted that if the thermoplastic elastomer forming the filler 5 has Shore A hardness of less than 20, when the rubber is injected over the insert 3 in a mold, there is formed a concave-convex surface on the surface of the weather strip 1 as the filler 5 is hardly oppressed by the rubber, thereby deteriorating its appearance. On the other hand, if Shore A hardness of the thermoplastic elastomer is more than 90, the flexibility of the filler 5 decreases and so “Bending radii” decreases. The weather strip 1 for an automobile according to the preferred embodiment of the invention comprises the thermoplastic elastomer having a proper hardness, so that it does not induce the problems mentioned above. When the thermoplastic elastomer having Shore A hardness of 40 to 70 is used, there can be formed a weather strip having both a good design and flexibility.

The inventors of this invention made experimental test to compare a weather strip according to the invention and a conventional weather strip on a presence or absence of a formation of a concave-convex surface as well as “Bending radii”. The experimental test of “Bending radii” was completed using a round-shaped jig 20 as shown in FIG. 6.

The results of the experimental test is demonstrated in Table 1.

	TABLE 1
		Degree of	Minimum
	TPE filled in the gaps of a weather strip	concave	radius
	Classification	Supplier	Brand	Grade	Hardness	and convex	of a jig*2)	Evaluation
Comparative	EPDM	—	—	—	—	—	Large	25	X
example 1*1)
Comparative	TPS	Riken	Actymer	AE-2010S	Shore A	10	Large	25	X
example 2		Technos
Comparative	TPO	Mitsui	Milastomer	M4400B	Shore D	48	Small	70	X
example 3		Chemicals
Embodiment 1	TPS	Riken	Actymer	AE-2020S	Shore A	20	Small	30	◯
		Technos
Embodiment 2	TPO	Mitsui	Milastomer	7030B	Shore A	70	Small	50	◯
		Chemicals
Embodiment 3	TPVC	Advanced	Sunprene	FE65HG	Shore A	65	Small	40	◯
		Plastics
		Compounds
Embodiment 4	TPS	Riken	Actymer	AE-2040S	Shore A	40	Small	35	◯
		Technos
Embodiment 5	TPO	Mitsui	Milastomer	9070B	Shore A	90	Small	55	◯
		Chemicals
TPO: olefin type thermoplastic elastomer
TPS: styrene type thermoplastic elastomer
TPVC: vinyl chloride type thermoplastic elastomer
◯: We have No problems in actual use.
X: there are problems in actual use.
*1)Only EPDM is applied over a conventional resin made insert (TPE is not filled in the gaps of an insert).
*2)Minimum limited radius of a corner of each weather strip is measured by a measuring method shown in FIG. 6 within a range in which each weather strip enabled to maintain its good bent structure.

As it is evident from the results shown in Table 1, the weather strips according to the invention (which are indicated as “embodiment 1” to “embodiment 5” in the Table) form smaller a concave-convex surface, and “Bending radii” is also smaller ranging between 30 mm to 55 mm, thereby indicating that they are also better suited in a practical use compared to the conventional weather strips (which are shown as “comparative example 1” to “comparative example 3” in the Table). Further, it is presumed from this experimental test that if Shore A hardness of the thermoplastic elastomer forming a filler 5 exceeds 90, the flexibility thereof decreases, thereby deteriorating the flexibility of a weather strip in forming the weather strip in a bending operation and the like.

Although, in this preferred embodiment, only EPDM is taken as an example of a rubber which embeds an insert 3 therein, other materials such as natural rubber, styrene butadiene rubber, silicon rubber, fluorine rubber and nitrile-butadiene rubber can be considered as the materials in use. Further, instead of the rubber material such as EPDM, thermoplastic elastomer can be applied.

Moreover, in this preferred embodiment, there is exemplified polypropylene as a thermoplastic resin for a material of an insert 4, other materials such as polyethylene, polystyrene and polyamide can be utilized.

Further, in this preferred embodiment, as a forming material of the filler 5, there can be used olefin type, styrene type and vinyl chloride type as thermoplastic elastomer, and there can be used ethylene-vinyl-acetate and flexible polyvinyl chloride as the thermoplastic resin.

Furthermore, although in this preferred embodiment, the filler 5 is fully filled in all of the gaps 50 formed between the tooth portions 4b of the insert body 4 as illustrated in FIG. 2, the filler 5 may be partially filled in the gaps 50 as such as shown in FIG. 9, wherein the filler 5 is filled in the gaps 50 excluding the portions between the top edge portions of the tooth portions 4b. The rubber, which will be provided over the insert 3, will be filled in the portions where the filler 5 is unfilled.

Further, another filler 5 can be filled in the portions of the gaps 50 between the top edge portions of the tooth portions 4b where the former filler 5 is unfilled. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, one type of thermoplastic elastomer TPE 5b having a lower hardness (of, for example, 20 to 50 in Shore A hardness) can be filled in the gaps 50 between the top edge portions of the tooth portions 4b to contribute the flexibility. Further, another type of thermoplastic elastomer TPE 5a having a higher hardness (of, for example, 50 to 90 in Shore A hardness) can be filled in the gaps 50 excluding the portions between the top edge portions of the tooth portions 4b (,which will become a design surface observed from outside).

Claims

1. A weather strip for an automobile embedding an insert which comprises a resin made and roughly comb shaped insert body having a plural number of tooth portions wherein,

gaps formed between said tooth portions of said insert body is fully or partially filled with a filler made of thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin having Shore A hardness of 20 to 90.

2. A weather strip for an automobile claimed in claim 1 wherein said thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic resin forming said filler has an elongation after fracture of 300% or more.